The hosts of Fox & Friends were shocked to find themselves apparently in agreement with Democratic strategist James Carville about how his party should respond to the wild first weeks of Donald Trump’s presidency.
Carville said Monday on MSNBC that Democrat politicians should “get out of the way” when it comes to dealing with Trump.
“What I think they should do is what we call in rural America, play possum. Just let it go. Don’t get in the way of it. Or as we like to say, don’t just stand there—do nothing. Let this germinate,” Carville says in the clip that was showed on Fox News. “We don’t need to get in front of it. This freight train is moving. Let’s just get out of the way.”
The hosts of the conservative news show were stunned when they reacted to Carville’s take on Tuesday.
“He’s right, he’s absolutely right,” said Steve Doocy, to nods of agreement from the other hosts. They struggled to explain how they could be in agreement with the strategist behind Bill Clinton’s successful 1992 presidential campaign.
After making fun of Carville’s physical appearance, Brian Kilmeade said, “He’s saying don’t do anything. He’s also the guy who said he guarantees Kamala Harris will win. This guy really hasn’t been successful since Bill Clinton.”
Lawrence Jones interjected with a different explanation.
“James Carville is still partisan,” he said. “He’s still going to root for his team. But I do think he gives them solid advice sometimes, telling them where to adjust.”
Jones suggested that Carville was cautioning the Democrats against opposing “the American people,” who voted Trump into office.
In Doocy’s estimation, Carville was just accepting the Democrats’ lack of political power.
“The Republicans control all the government. They’ve got the House, the Senate, and the White House,” he said. “So there’s nothing the Democrats can do other than sing about it.”
Some of the Fox hosts’ confusion may have been cleared up had they watched the complete version of Carville’s remarks.
The clip aired on Fox didn’t include Carville’s expression of support for the grassroots nationwide protests against Trump’s actions as president. In urging against defiant action toward Trump, Carville seemed to be cautioning politicians about distracting from citizen-led movements.
“Boy, what you showed me today pumps me up more than anything in the world,” he said later in the interview, responding to the protests. “We just got to let this go and get the hell out of the way, because it’s coming.”
The Fox version of the clip also cut just before Carville advised, “Be nice, until it’s time not to be nice.”
